MUBI

The first time I watched this movie this is what I wrote:

could you miss someone you don’t remember?

last night I watched the most stunning science fiction movie I have ever seen. it was futuristic without borrowing the same fundamentals every science fiction movie uses. there were no spaceships, aliens, or million dollar special effects. the futuristic elements were portrayed through the dialogue and cinematography. the characters possessed a certain believability that flooded through the entire film. you didn’t have to suspend your disbelief with every scene. you found yourself enraptured within every frame and every shot. the science fiction quality was expressed in a humanistic approach, where the characters find themselves in moral and social dilemmas. they weren’t battling unknown enemies in the sky, or dodging laser beams and chemical warfare. the science fiction aspect was so subtle you barely recognized it. it seemed as if whatever year this film takes place, it is not too far off from where we are now in the early years of the twenty-first century. I was mesmerized by the beautiful landscapes the director painted with his camera. it was shot in shanghai, india, and great britain. nothing in the film was artificial or technologically created. all the architecture exists. the sleek, modern looking buildings exist now in all these different cities across the world. michael winterbottom has created an exquisite work of art. code 46 is both emotional and visually stunning. each scene just glides into the next, so subtly and ingeniously. the score was done by the free association who composed these ambient sounds with strings, piano and synthesizers. they helped guide the emotional entanglement, forgotten love, and the conversations between the two main characters: william played by tim robbins, and maria played by samantha morton. the film is a science fiction romance, about two people who fall in love so dangerously. the future has advanced in their genetic makeup and cloning skills. the government has found ways to support a free society but also govern and imprison them within their own genetic composition. love will always be an emotion that cannot be suppressed. and this film encounters the brutality of love and the fears of the near future. code 46 is a sexual violation. where two people cannot procreate, or start a family because their genes are too similar. it’s kind of a futuristic interpretation of racism or prejudice. these innocent people fall deeply in love and they are forbidden to start a family or have children because the government found a flaw in their cloning method. samantha morton does an astounding job. she delivers such passion and emotion through every scene. a good portion of the film has no dialogue, and it rests in the hands of the actors. one scene in particular where samantha morton is telling tim robbins how she steals “papelles” (a special travel insurance that allows people to leave the country). she is looking directly into the camera confessing her rebelliousness. william, tim robbins character is an insurance investigator who is obligated to stop these kinds of frauds is listening to her humanitarian compassion for society. the scene exchanges this confession with maria dancing in a club with strobe lights flashing on and off her face. it is intense and furthers the sexual magnetism between the two characters. the film progresses into so many levels of intimacy where memories can be erased and reborn with new afflictions. it questions fate and the vitality of love. can you really miss someone you don’t remember? the language of the film is another tool michael winterbottom uses to convey a ultramodern society. the language they speak is predominantly english but spanish, french, and mandarin chinese are mixed in the dialogue. it is a way of illustrating science fiction in the social perspective. where in the future the world will speak a globally recognized language, with fragments of dialect from so many different cultures. code 46 is not your typical sci-fi exploration with robots, stylish automobiles, airborne highways, and computerized gadgets. it is science fiction that explores the eerie possibilities of what society could become. it suggests humanity’s role in the future, or lack of. it is a modern love story wrapped in beautiful landscapes. a love story unfolding in the near possible future. michael winterbottom illustrates these ideas on so many levels. musically, sonically, and visually the film impresses. it supports the script so elegantly it is near impossible to look away from the screen. se battre pour la bonne cause…

here are just some quotes that slaughtered my heart…

“If we had enough information we could predict the consequences of our actions. Would you want to know?… If you kissed that girl, if you talked to that man, take that job or marry that woman… steal that papelle. If we knew what would happen in the end would we be able to take the first step, to make the first move?”

“There is a way to be free in an oppressive society and there is a way to be a slave in a free society.”

“Everybody’s children are so special. It makes you wonder where all the ordinary grown-ups come from.”